Mystery Egg
by Vortex of Hope
Summary: I decided to write this after the mystery egg event. Original Character sets out on his own journey following and meeting characters from the games over time. There is some language and violence. Later chapters will have bigger fights.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: A runaway egg.**

Kyle Ferris was sulking alone in his small room in Nuvema Town. Earlier that week he had watched the only other children in the village leave with their Pokemon. Now he was alone- almost.

He went downstairs and found Professor Juniper with his mother. Professor Juniper came over every day to help his mother since she was too weak to stand. Seven years ago Kyle's older brother, David, had died and ever since his mother had become ill. Now Kyle was fourteen and still had to wait two years before he could leave like Black and White had with their friends.

Kyle went back to his room before his mother or the Professor noticed him and tried to think. He really didn't know what he wanted to do, ever since his brother had died in Nimbasa city his mother wouldn't even talk about letting him leave. He didn't want to admit it but he had been thinking about leaving without telling her. The only thing that really stopped him was his lack of a Pokemon.

He turned on his television trying to repress the thought, he flipped through news stories until a bright add caught his attention. It was a live broadcast taking place in nearby Accumula town. Professor Fennel had reportedly just completed her dream syncing device and after a little trial and error it was running. The description of the system flashed by but what caught Kyle's attention was the celebration taking place. In Accumula they were handing out mystery eggs to trainers to celebrate and even in the background of the screen Kyle could see the trainers.

He turned off the television silently, he considered going but just as soon rejected it. Even if he could get there in time he would have to convince the people he was a trainer. He paced around his room but couldn't stop thinking about it, if he didn't try he would never get over the regret. Kyle locked his door and slipped out his window climbing down the tree the way his brother had shown him as an infant.

He ran to route one as fast as he could without stopping, even to look back. The spring air had melted the snow only a couple weeks before. Eventually he made it but he knew he would have to cross the Pokemon inhabited areas without a Pokemon of his own. He wandered through the grass slowly trying to avoid any possible Pokemon. He made it to the other side of the grass safely, as he relaxed ecstatic at his luck he didn't notice the boy about his age reading a book while walking before he crashed into Kyle.

The two boys collided and Kyle fell back into the grass startling a group of Lillipup. The Pokemon growled angrily and Kyle backed away frightened, the boy who had crashed into him was flipping through his book annoyed.

"Well are you going to fix this?" Kyle yelled.

"Fix what?" the boy asked confused only now noticing the Pokemon. "Oh, you probably shouldn't have made them angry."

Kyle glared at the boy's annoyingly vacant attitude. The Lillipup continued growling and started to press Kyle sensing his fear. The boy was still flipping through his book obliviously. The head of the Lillipup barked loudly threatening Kyle and then was thrown back forcefully. Kyle looked at the other boy who had released a Hoothoot.

"It's impossible to focus with all this noise." the boy complained.

Kyle left the weird kid and continued on the route, the trainer would be fine against a small group of Lillipup. Finally Kyle arrived in Accumula town, he was drained from running all the way but was happy to see they were still giving away eggs. He ran over to the line and waited anxiously, he wasn't sure how he could convince the spokesmen he was a trainer without a Pokemon or trainer card but panicked when he saw they were running out of eggs.

Eventually it was his turn and Kyle stepped up to get his egg, when the man asked for his trainer card he didn't speak. The trainer behind him was getting angry and complaining, somebody was watching the scene and walked over to intervene.

"Here you dropped your trainer card." the trainer said calmly.

Kyle took the card and looked at the trainer confused, he was a few years older than Kyle and had green hair. The trainer played with his odd necklace while the spokesman gave Kyle his egg without bothering to check the card. Kyle took the egg happily and returned the trainer card to its owner.

"Don't misunderstand, I didn't do that to help you." the trainer said smoothly. "I only did it so someone like _that _wouldn't get the egg."

Kyle looked back at the trainer that had been standing behind him as the man yelled loudly cursing the spokesman for running out of eggs. The trainer that had helped Kyle got a disgusted look on his face before walking away.

"Take good care of that egg," He called out seriously.

Kyle was put off by the trainer's odd behavior, he tried to recall what his trainer card had said but couldn't remember seeing an actual name. He decided to drop it just happy he had finally gotten his egg, now it was only a matter of time before had had his own Pokemon!

Meanwhile back in Nuvema town Professor Juniper was in her lab waiting for Fennel's shipment to arrive. She heard something crash into the lab's door and went to check it out. When she opened the door she found the boy Kyle had met on route one holding his head and trying to find a page in the book he had just dropped.

"I take it you're Ivan Lore?" she asked remembering Fennels description.

The boy only answered her after finding what he had been looking for in his book. He confirmed that he was Ivan Lore, one of Fennel's students. After completing the Dream Sync device Fennel had him bring several of the odd Pokemon the system had provided. Juniper took the delivery happily, since a week ago almost all of the children in Nuvema had all left at once she had given them all of her available Pokemon. She thanked the boy and asked if there was anything else.

"Professor Fennel wanted me to observe the Pokemon being used to document the differences between them and normal Pokemon. My Hoothoot's ability isn't particularly impressive enough to make a solid observation on." Ivan explained.

"I understand, that works fine since I already have someone who could use a Pokemon in mind." she responded happily.

She lead Ivan to Kyle's house and watched ridiculously as he continued to bump into things constantly. As she knocked on the door she wondered if Fennel was paying attention to her students. Kyle's mother opened the door wondering why the Professor had returned. Juniper asked Ivan to take the Pokemon to the boy in the house while she explained everything to his mother. Ivan nodded and went upstairs, when he tried to open the door he realized it was locked as he crashed into it dropping his book and ripping out a page.

Downstairs Kyle's mother listened as Professor Juniper told her she was giving Kyle a Pokemon. Kyle wasn't aware of it but his mother knew he was depressed having watched everyone else leave while he was stuck here. Suddenly they heard a crash from upstairs and Juniper ran up to check what had happened. Ivan had his Hoothoot demolish the door upset by his injured book.

Juniper was astonished by the boy's overreaction and then she noticed that Kyle wasn't even in the room. She found the window opened and heard Kyle's mother asking what was wrong, since she wasn't strong enough to make it upstairs. Ivan was sitting on Kyle's bed trying to repair his book and Juniper snapped at him telling him to do something.

Ivan looked up annoyed and noticed several pictures on the bed stand, one was of Kyle's brother, one was of his mother when she was healthy, and finally there was one of Kyle with his mother seeing Black and the others off earlier that week. Ivan looked at the picture of Kyle curiously while his Hoothoot exclaimed. Juniper noticed the Pokemon's reaction and walked over.

"What's going on?" she asked confused.

"No idea must of hit its head or something, so who are we looking for?" he asked looking back at his book while his Hoothoot stared at him angrily.

Kyle had spent the day wandering around Accumula town thinking of his next destination. He could go back to Nuvema and wait until his egg hatched but that would require explaining what he had done to his mother. He sighed and continued to drift around the small town, he decided to call home later and prayed his egg hatched soon.

He examined the egg closely, there was no way for him to know how long it had left but he swore it was warm and getting warmer over time. Kyle was staring out at route two from the lookout and listened to the music coming from the nearby house. The alternating sounds of the piano and drums was comforting as he tried to avoid thinking of what the future would bring.

"YOU!" somebody shouted.

Kyle turned around frightened by the tone and saw the man who had been behind him in the line for eggs. Kyle backed away seeing the man's face twisted in anger but all that was behind him was railing.

"You stole my egg you little punk!" the man slurred.

There was nowhere to go, the stairway only allowed two people and he couldn't just walk past the belligerent trainer. He looked back over the rail but all that was below him were trees. The man pulled out a Pokeball and called out his Herdier.

"Give me that egg," the man said now smug at Kyle's fear.

Kyle looked at the egg and thought about how much he had wanted to leave his home, to follow the other trainers.

"Screw you," Kyle spat disgusted.

The man was stunned by Kyle's response and his shock quickly turned to rage.

"Herdier Tackle," the man ordered furiously.

The dog Pokemon rammed Kyle throwing him over the edge overlooking route two. The drunk man laughed spitefully and hadn't noticed the green hair trainer from earlier had been watching the scene. The man turned around and saw that the green haired trainer had been watching him and jumped back.

"How much did you see?" he stuttered angrily.

"Pathetic human," N muttered disgusted. "I should have taken your Pokemon earlier.

"W-what are you talking about?" the drunk said confused by N's behavior still thinking about what the trainer would say about the kid he had attacked.

"Your going to release your Pokemon and pay for what you did to that unhatched egg." N said angrily releasing his Pokemon.

Kyle fell through the trees crashing into branches as he fell, he held the egg closely trying to shield it. He smashed into the ground an blacked out before he could see the Flamethrower burning the rail above him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two: A plan is hatched.**

Ivan Lore had finally made it to Accumula after wandering through route one all night in no hurry. He looked at the picture of the boy he was now looking for, he was using it as a bookmark so he wouldn't forget the face. As usual he crashed into something but when he looked up he was surprised at the crowd that had gathered. He looked up as a group of police brought down a burned man.

"Did you find any signs of the Pokemon that did this?" another officer in the crowd had shouted.

"No, there was no Pokemon anywhere on the scene the guy isn't even carrying any Pokeballs." Someone answered.

Kyle woke up painfully, he felt like he had shattered all of his bones. He still couldn't think straight but he felt like he was on fire. He looked at his chest and saw his egg glowing softly as his shirt was smoking. He yelled and put it on the ground painfully but gently. Now he was separated from Accumula and until his egg hatched he was defenseless, and even once it hatched it would be too weak to battle. Eventually his egg cooled down and Kyle picked it up feeling the Pokemon inside moving energetically.

He turned around and yelled when he saw someone had been watching him. The person was dressed in black and watching from the shadow of one of the large trees. As Kyle yelled and backed away the person came out waving their arms.

"Calm down," the man begged. "I was going to investigate the incident in Accumula and saw you."

"Who are you?" Kyle asked suspiciously.

"I'm one of the Gym Leaders of Striaton City, my name is Chili." the Gym Leader explained.

_Chili_? Kyle thought critically.

"I'm glad to see you're uninjured, that fall could have been a lot worse and your lucky that egg survived," Chili said relieved.

He offered to escort Kyle back to Striaton and he accepted gratefully. Kyle limped into the city surprised by how large the buildings were when compared to Nuvema. Chili took Kyle to the Pokemon center to have his egg examined thoroughly.

"Hello Chili," the Nurse Joy called cheerfully. "Back again so soon?"

Kyle looked at the Leader curiously leaving his egg with the nurse.

"Well just a few days ago we took several challenges and lost all four of them…" Chili laughed awkwardly.

_Four_? Kyle thought. The trainers from Nuvema must have passed through. Kyle wondered why it would have taken them so long to get this far. Once he got his egg back Kyle relaxed and asked how long until it hatched.

"Well it looks like it could hatch any second now but something is stopping it," the Nurse Joy explained curiously.

Kyle was upset by her explanation and she recommended that he go ask the local Pokemon Professor. Kyle remembered that Professor Fennel's lab was nearby and smiled at the irony. Fennel's research was the reason they had held the egg giveaway and now he would be asking about the same egg. Chili offered to come curious about the egg's refusal to hatch and showed him the way to the lab.

As Kyle and Chili reached the lab they heard something crash inside the building and they rushed inside. Kyle watched as two freaks dressed in matching outfits were trashing the lab angrily.

"We want the Dream Smoke those little punks stole from us now!" the freaks were shouting.

"Hey!" Chili shouted. "What do you two think your doing, aren't your kind supposed to be talking about Pokemon liberation?"

"T-that's exactly why we need the Dream Smoke," One of them stuttered.

"Y-yea, we're going to use to rescue Pokemon from Dream World." the second freak added."

"Why would you need to rescue Pokemon from Dream World?" Professor Fennel asked accusingly.

"None of your business!" the freaks shouted together.

"That's enough," Chili said angrily. "I'm tired of you two idiots messing around in my town. I'll show you the true power of a Gym Leader!"

Chili released a Simisear and one of the grunts released several Pokemon to battle him. Kyle watched as the Gym Leader battled fiercely and didn't notice as the second criminal snuck up behind him. The trainer released a Pidove before Kyle could notice.

"Quick attack!" the trainer ordered over the chaos of Chili's battle.

The bird slammed into the still injured Kyle throwing his egg into the middle of the Gym Leader's battle just as his Simisear unleashed a Flamethrower. Kyle yelled and tried to run towards his egg but the Gym Leader held him back. Kyle screamed as his egg disappeared into the flames.

The freak that had snuck up behind him laughed and ordered his Pidove to use Quick Attack on Kyle again. Kyle glared at the trainer hatefully, but was surprised when a Pokemon jumped in front of the attack. A small blue flame burned on the small Pokemon's head as it defended its trainer.

"What in the heck?" Kyle asked not recognizing the Pokemon.

"It's a Litwick," Chili explained. "The fire attack must have given it enough energy to break out of the egg!"

Kyle remembered how the egg had burned him awake earlier that morning and wondered if the tiny Pokemon had used all of its strength keeping Kyle warm after he had fallen last night. The Litwick's odd blue flame glowed ominously disproportionate to its small stature.

"It must still have energy leftover from absorbing my fire attack," Chili exclaimed. "Now use a fire type attack!"

"I don't know any!" Kyle yelled nervously.

"Fine use incinerate, it should be able to handle an attack like that," Chili explained.

Kyle ordered his Pokemon to attack and the Litwick unleashed its otherworldly blue flame. Empowered by its Flash Fire ability Litwick managed to finish off the odd vandals Pokemon.

The two freaks saw their Pokemon get taken down and tried to escape but crashed into two new trainers blocking the door. They looked up afraid and saw the new trainers were wearing outfits that matched Chili's.

Later after police finally managed to extinguish the fire Kyle and Chili had caused they discovered the two freaks had gone missing in the confusion. Everyone assumed they had escaped in the chaos of the fire.

"Who were they supposed to be?" Kyle asked critically never leaving the side of his new Pokemon.

"Team Plasma," Chili and his brothers took turn explaining.

Kyle listened to their explanation but didn't particularly care about their motives. He was surprised to hear the other Nuvema trainers had gotten involved and wondered how far they had gotten now.

"Now then what are you going to do?" Chili asked Kyle seriously.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"You don't seem to have real experience battling and don't know any of your Pokemon's skills," Chili explained.

"Wing it?" Kyle joked. "A ghost type should give me the advantage right?"

Chili glared at Kyle ominously.

"Luckily for you I know about fire types and our Gym specialized in the basics of Pokemon. I think you should take our training course, although as Gym Leaders we wont go easy on you," Chili laughed.

"I think I'll just risk it," Kyle said backing away from the Gym Leader.

Suddenly both of Chili's brothers grabbed his arms from behind.

"When- How?" Kyle stammered.

"You do realize you started a fire in Professor Fennel's lab and are now our top suspect in the assault in Accumula," Chili smiled craftily.

"You started the fire and I didn't have a Pokemon back then!" Kyle complained.

"Oh really?" Chili asked. "Cilan is that what you saw?"

The green haired brother shook his head.

"Cress?"

"I seem to remember blue flames standing out in the fire." the blue haired brother explained thoughtfully.

"Looks like your busting tables," Chili laughed. "It makes for great training,"

"I hate all of you…" Kyle complained.

Later that day Ivan arrived back in his hometown and headed back to the lab to ask Fennel if she had seen a trainer with no Pokemon. He wandered around the city and having grown up there avoided crashing into things. He walked to the lab and looked up confused when he didn't crash into the lab door as usual. He realized the door had burned down and the lab was scorched.

"Wow I really need to start paying attention," he complained.

Eventually he found Fennel at the police station working chaotically to repair the Dream Sync system after the attack. Ivan asked if she had met a trainer with no Pokemon and tried to show his teacher the picture but she just said she hadn't met a trainer without any Pokemon.

Ivan sighed and explained that there should be a boy his age wandering around without any Pokemon to protect him. He told Fennel he would have to try and find the boy as soon as possible and would head down route three. Fennel just nodded and continued her work.

As Ivan left down the road out of town he continued reading as usual and failed to notice Kyle dressed as a waiter cleaning tables at the Gym Leader's restaurant.

That night in the depths of the Dream Yard the two Plasma Grunts were hiding out waiting for their chance to report back to Ghetsis. Suddenly three shadows appeared behind them silently.

"T-the Shadow Triad," One of the grunts stammered.

The three shadows stayed totally silent as the grunts explained a very obscure version of the earlier events. Once they finished they looked at the Triad expectantly.

"You three can handle the Gym Leaders right! We can use that to take that boy's Litwick it was an odd color and probably valuable!" The grunts explained.

"Failures…" was all the Triad whispered emotionlessly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: An Illusion of Choice.**

Kyle had spent several days training with the three Striaton Gym Leaders and had learned the basics of battling. Finally Chili had agreed to let the new trainer continue on his own.

"So why couldn't I have just taken classes at the Trainer School?" Kyle complained as Chili walked with him to the Pokemon Center.

"Because then we would have had to clean the tables ourselves, I thought that was obvious." Chili explained simply.

Kyle said goodbye to the Gym Leader at the Center grateful for the lessons. Chili said farewell for his brothers and walked away. Before he had gone he turned around one last time.

"Next time we see each other we'll have to battle and see if you can earn yourself a badge," he called out knowingly.

Kyle hoped that he would see the Gym Leader again someday to repay him for helping his Litwick to hatch. Kyle had really bonded with his Pokemon, even before it had hatched it had saved his life. Kyle entered the Pokemon Center and finally called his mother.

"Kyle? Where have you been?" she asked upset.

Kyle tried to explain everything that had happened, of course he left out the two times he was personally attacked. Once he had explained everything his mother nodded but didn't calm down.

"Kyle, Professor Juniper had planned to give you a Pokemon the day you left," she explained. "She sent the boy that brought the Pokemon after, if you're in Striaton he should have already met you."

Kyle remembered the boy he had crashed into on his way out of town and decided to look into it. He said goodbye but before he left his mother had to remind him.

"Please be careful, I don't think I can survive if I lost you like David," she pleaded sadly.

Kyle didn't look at the screen and only nodded in response, he hadn't really spoken about his brother with his mom and didn't plan to start now. Litwick looked at him confused and he returned the blue flamed Pokemon sadly. He went to ask Professor Fennel about the other trainer.

"You're the trainer Ivan was looking for?" she asked confused, "He said you shouldn't have had a Pokemon. He told me he was going to route three to find you."

Kyle thanked her for her help and headed to route three. He was sad he wouldn't get to see the city he had worked so hard to get to but he also wanted to see if he might be able to catch up to any of the other Nuvema trainers. Kyle entered route three and was surprised that a day care would be outside of the city.

He stopped by the day care and asked the old woman working inside if he had seen a boy his age come by a few days ago. She tried to remember but she couldn't be sure, her husband had disappeared the day before and she was trying to maintain the day care alone. Kyle followed the route west but couldn't find a trace of the trainer.

Eventually he found a cave and was surprised when a little girl ran out. She ran over to Kyle and hid behind him as a dozen Woobat flew out of the cave enraged. The little girl was shaking behind Kyle, he released his Litwick and prepared for his first wild Pokemon battle.

The Woobat had surrounded Kyle and were causing a whirlwind around him with their Gust. The little girl was desperately hanging onto Kyle's arm. Kyle stayed calm and remembered his training.

"Litwick cancel out their attack with Fire Spin!" he shouted over the gale.

The candle Pokemon released its ominous blue flame in a vortex shape but in the opposite direction of the Woobats wind. The fire canceled out the wind and captured all of the Woobat as they tried to retreat. Kyle prepared his next attack but a strong blast blew the Fire Spin apart.

Kyle looked over and saw a Swoobat fly out of the cave taking lead of the other Pokemon. It flew over to Kyle and attacked with another Psychic blast. Kyle remained calm, he had been battling the Striaton City's more powerful Pokemon for days.

"Will-o-wisp," Kyle called.

Litwick released a dozen orbs of blue fire that hovered in the air, the Swoobat tried to avoid them but the flames moved with a mind of its own. The bat fell slightly and was flapping erratically. Now that he had the set up finished Kyle was in control.

"Finish it with Hex!" Kyle ordered.

Litwick's blue flame turned black and the Swoobat was surrounded by a black haze. The shadows burst into flame absorbing strength from the bats burns. Kyle threw a Pokeball and the Swoobat was captured without struggling. Once the leader was gone the rest of the Pokemon retreated swiftly.

Kyle was relieved he had been able to handle the battle and was proud Litwick had done so well. He asked the little girl if she was okay but she shook her head violently.

"What's wrong?" Kyle asked confused.

The little girl ran over to the cave she had been inside earlier and waved for Kyle to follow. He hesitated but was still happy about how he had done in the previous battle and he followed the girl inside confidently. She lead him into the cave and continued until the light failed to reach them. Litwick's flame guided Kyle but he wondered how the little girl knew where she was going.

He heard something move in the dark and ran ahead to find the girl, he ran ahead of Litwick and failed to see the pit before him. Kyle tumbled down painfully and crashed into something soft. He looked around confused and saw a pair of glowing eyes and screamed as he was thrown back.

"W-what are you?" Kyle shouted fearfully. "Litwick light up the cave!"

Something moved again and Kyle backed away as Litwick's blue light flooded the room.

"Figures, you always seem the be crashing into me." Ivan complained.

"Y-you," Kyle stammered happy that nothing ominous was in the pit.

"How did you fall in here?" Ivan asked.

Kyle explained everything as Litwick's light faded. Kyle looked at the little Pokemon and realized he had pushed the infant too far before recalling it. He looked around and wondered what happened to the little girl he had been following.

"What are you doing?" Ivan complained trying to read his book with his Hoothoot's eyes light.

"Where did that girl go?" Kyle wondered aloud.

"You don't still think that the girl was a human?" Ivan asked mockingly. "it's a Zorua it must have copied one of the children that play by the day care and tricked you."

"H-how do you know that?" Kyle asked insulted by the boy's tone.

"Its been holding me in here as a joke for a day or two, whenever I try to use Hoothoot's psychic abilities to get out it cancels them." Ivan said unconcerned.

"If you fell for it to why are you insulting me?" Kyle asked critically.

"I didn't fall for such an obvious trick," Ivan said annoyed. "I just didn't see the pit and fell in."

"That's worse!" Kyle yelled annoyed.

He heard a mocking sound that could only be the Zorua laughing at its captives. Kyle got angrier shouting into the dark and Ivan just flipped through his book. Kyle considered releasing one of his Pokemon but Litwick was spent and the Swoobat had been knocked out by its burns.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Kyle asked desperately.

"Oh yea that reminds me, I was supposed to give this to you," Ivan said pulling a Pokeball out of his bag. "I'll take your other Pokemon as a trade since you can't control something that evolved."

Kyle traded the Swoobat he had captured earlier and took the Pokeball Ivan offered. He looked inside but it was too dark to see in the cave.

"What is it?" Kyle asked.

"How should I know?" Ivan complained and as an afterthought, "I'm starting to get hungry."

"I should've just forgot about you," Kyle sighed. "Lets see what's in here!"

Kyle released the Pokeball and the release light flooded the cave for a moment revealing the Zorua above them. Inside the light Kyle watched as a male Nidoran appeared shaking itself awake. He decided to try and order the Pokemon to attack the Zorua above them.

The small Pokemon's ears twitched furiously and it disappeared into the ground. Ivan had started paying attention when Kyle had released his new Pokemon and ordered his Hoothoot to light up the area. Above them the Zorua ran back and forth trying to figure out what they were doing when the ground below blew up launching the little illusionist into the air forcefully.

"Its ability seems to increase attack," Ivan muttered taking notes. "Looks like it missed a direct hit though."

"Try, uh, something else," Kyle shouted from the pit.

The Nidoran rammed into the Zorua repeatedly throwing it backwards with a Fury Attack. Kyle cheered the small Pokemon's strength. He looked over at Ivan but the boy had already used Hoothoot's psychic powers to get out of the pit.

"Where are you going?" Kyle shouted as the boy wandered out.

Eventually Kyle's new Nidoran had dug him out of the pit and he found Ivan outside eating and reading. He knocked the book out of the boy's hands annoyed holding onto the Zorua he had carried out.

"I'm going to let that go because I needed to get some food," Ivan said seriously.

Ivan walked over to pick up his book when another Zorua snatched it up. It ran back snickering and crashed into an old man. The Zorua Kyle had been holding noticed the old man and ran over to him excitedly.

"Oh there you are," the old man said happily picking up the Pokemon. He looked at Kyle and Ivan. "I hope the little one didn't cause you any trouble, recently many trainers had begun breeding the rare little things and they are a bit of a handful."

Ivan returned to his book and Kyle wondered if running away from home was worth the torture he was going through. After seeing the old man home and making sure none of the other Zorua tried to cause any trouble Kyle and Ivan met Professor Fennel at the fountain outside of Striaton City.

"I'm glad to see your okay Ivan, and it looks like you got that new Pokemon Kyle." she said happily. "Just as well, ever since team Plasma damaged the Dream Sync we haven't been able to repair it. Actually I was hoping to ask you two about that."

Fennel explained how something seemed to be interfering with Unova's storage system and anything related to it. She was continuing to manage the problem manually but needed a real solution. The only person who may be able to reconfigure the Dream Sync she had created would be Professor Park who had been experimenting with convoluted transference methods. She asked Ivan and Kyle if they would be willing to go ask the man for assistance. He was living in his lab on route fifteen and refused to take calls during his research. Ivan agreed to the professor's request immediately but Kyle considered turning her down.

"It would be the least we could do since Kyle burned down the lab." Ivan stated

Kyle clenched his teeth but accepted the request. It seems he wouldn't get a choice in the matter. He wondered if he would ever get to make his own choices.

Meanwhile somewhere in Unova N entered the lab within his hidden castle. He saw Ghetsis speaking with the scientist about their efforts to hack into Unova's storage system. The scientists complained that the system was taking longer than anticipated due to the networks instability from the new Dream Sync.

"How was your latest journey Lord N?" Ghetsis asked noticing the odd trainer.

"Interesting," N answered "I met several trainers that had the potential to truly exist in peace with Pokemon."

"That's nice," Ghetsis said patronizingly, something that N failed to recognize. "Our plan is getting ready to move into the next stage, once we have access to the storage system we can focus on finding the Dragons."

"How is the search coming?" N asked eager at the thought of finally meeting the Hero's twin dragons.

"It is progressing slowly, unfortunately your brother has the habit of getting sidetracked." Ghetsis explained calmly.

"Just as well, David has been like that for years." N answered thinking aloud. "Its what makes him the perfect match for the other dragon."

Ghetsis left N in the lab and wandered through the halls of the hidden castle. _Yes David is perfect for the Pokemon seeking truth, after all I've trained him to believe my word is truth_. Ghetsis chuckled to himself as he considered his next moves carefully.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Forest Frontier.**

Kyle and Ivan's return trip through route three was uneventful, there weren't any grassy areas to go through to get to Nacrene City. While they were in the checkpoint outside of Nacrene, Kyle saw a message on the video board. Apparently Black had already reached Castelia City and had beaten the third Gym Leader. Kyle was happy for the other Nuvema trainer but wondered where the others were.

Ivan had insisted that they stop at the museum to see their newest exhibit about the Relic Castle. Kyle agreed eager to see the building that doubled as a Gym. They found the museum but it was cordoned off by police. Ivan watched disappointed but Kyle ran through the tape recognizing someone. Standing impatiently staring at an incomplete fossil, Cheren was as annoyed as ever.

"What are you doing here?" Cheren asked still staring at the statue.

Kyle explained what had brought him here but Cheren didn't really seem to listen when one of the officers came out of the back of the museum the impatient trainer ran over.

"Well where did they go!" Cheren asked insistently.

"What's going on?" Ivan asked.

"Team Plasma attacked the museum a few days ago," a woman explained walking to the building. "They attacked while that boy was challenging me and he hasn't left since insisting on proving something to them."

Cheren ran off after speaking to the guard, Lenora asked what they had found. The officer explained they found evidence that Team Plasma had only taken the dragon fossil and they had reason to believe they were still nearby. Lenora went back inside her Gym saying she had to make some preparations.

"For talking about Pokemon liberation these Plasma people never seem to follow through," Ivan complained.

"I'm going to go help Cheren," Kyle told Ivan before following his friend.

Ivan sighed and followed Kyle to the forest outside of town. Pinwheel Forest was already getting dark and Cheren was already moving into the forest. Kyle started to follow him but someone's call stopped him. He turned around and saw Lenora run over to him.

"I'll follow that one into the forest, you two stay on the path incase anyone comes this way," the Gym Leader explained.

Kyle watched her go into the forest and sighed sitting down on one of the twin bridges somberly. Ivan sat on the other bridge reading as usual.

"Why were willing to ran into here so quickly?" Ivan asked curiously. "You don't seem like the type to charge into something adamantly to prove a point like that guy with glasses."

Kyle waited a moment before responding. "I think I just wanted to see where they get their skill from. Black, Cheren, and the others only left a little before me and Black's already got three badges. Cheren doesn't really seem to be thinking about his future but at least he has a goal."

"You got yourself a Pokemon didn't you?" Ivan asked not seeing anything wrong. "You got training from a Gym Leader, seems like you could try anything."

"You should listen to your friend," a voice said calmly. "Lacking vision can be depressing but there are always causes to fight for."

Kyle and Ivan turned around and saw an old man dressed oddly watching them. He was surrounded by three strangers dressed entirely in black observing them silently.

"I have heard you have potential," the old man continued. "If you wish to choose your future join us in freeing Pokemon from their oppressors."

"Not exactly what I was talking about," Kyle answered defensively. "And from what I have seen you people spend an incredible amount of time on other goals."

"That is too bad," the man said sadly. "I had heard you shared a bond with your Pokemon that could aid us."

Kyle released his Nidoran, "Give back what you people stole!"

One of the three dark strangers surrounding the man stepped forward and released his own Pokemon, an Ambipom. Nidoran attacked fearlessly but the monkey Pokemon evaded everything with ease. After Nidoran exhausted its energy on a Fury Attack the Ambipom sent the tiny Pokemon flying backwards with a single hit.

The Ambipom tried to follow up the attack but was stopped suddenly. Kyle looked over and saw Ivan had released his Hoothoot to help him. He recalled the weakened Nidoran and released his Litwick. As they were about to restart the battle a group of Plasma grunts ran out of the forest carrying a fossilized skull.

Cheren ran out of the trees with his Purrloin and Lenora followed with her Watchog. Cheren saw the Ambipom guarding the old man and targeted it immediately releasing his Pignite. The pig Pokemon caught both of the Ambipom's tails and they were locked in battle.

Kyle ran after the grunts with the skull and Ivan followed. The grunts released several Patrat and Venipede. Ivan's Hoothoot released a powerful Psychic and Litwick used Incinerate. Kyle had held back worried about how he was supposed to use his Litwick's firepower without burning everything. He cursed as Ivan took the lead and felt his other Pokeball shaking. Although it had been injured Nidoran wanted to continue and Kyle released him.

Nidoran crashed into one of the Venipede struggling to push it back with its Horn Attack. During the attack it began emitting a soft light that grew fiercer quickly, finally it flashed blindingly and when the light was gone it had evolved into a Nidorino and threw the bug Pokemon back effortlessly.

"Now show me what you can do Nidorino!" Kyle shouted.

His Pokemon released a Sludge Bomb that exploded swamping the grunt's Pokemon in sludge immobilizing them. Cheren was still battling the Ambipom and its dark trainer in a fierce battle. Pignite and Ambipom traded powerful direct attacks. Lenora had been battling the remaining two shadowy trainers.

"You must leave Sage," one of the shadow trainers said quietly. If this continues we risk your capture."

The old man nodded and retreated towards the exit. Cheren saw the man escaping and pushed his attack.

"Finish it! Arm Thrust," Cheren ordered.

His Pignite threw the monkey backwards knocking it out but its trainer pulled out another Pokeball ready to continue. Suddenly there was a roar and the grass seemed to come alive binding all of the released Pokemon. Kyle looked for the source and saw a strange green Pokemon glaring at the trainers from the river. It jumped over the battlefield effortlessly and watching the humans.

"What is that?" Kyle asked.

Cheren pulled out his Pokedex and explained the Pokemon's identity as Virizion. The Plasma grunts holding the fossil heard the summary of the near legendary Pokemon and ordered their Venipede to use a Poison Sting. Before the attack had made contact the Pokemon vanished before slamming into the grunt that had tried to attack it throwing the fossil into the air. It continued to attack the humans one at a time too fast for them to avoid. It appeared in front of Kyle and threw him into a tree forcefully.

"Jeez, what's with canine looking Pokemon trying to kill me…" Kyle complained.

The Virizion continued its assault until it was suddenly grabbed by a large amount of threads. Kyle looked for the source and saw an odd looking trainer with a Scolipede restraining the fierce legend.

"Burgh," Lenora called. "You got here in time."

The trainer acknowledge Lenora but was focusing on restraining Virizion. The Pokemon growled menacingly and its horns started glowing fiercely, and sliced through the restraints effortlessly. Burgh's Scolipede fell backward when the Pokemon was released. Virizion turned to Kyle with its still glowing horns and charged, before it hit the Pokeball holding Kyle's Litwick broke open and the Pokemon took the attack.

The attack didn't affect the ghost Pokemon and Litwick's Blue flame turned violet as it was surrounded by fire. Virizion backed away damaged by the fire, once the flames died down Kyle saw Litwick had changed into a Lampent. Virizion glared angrily but didn't attack the Pokemon, it turned to attack Ivan but his Swoobat appeared stopping the Pokemon's charge again. Virizion tried to make the Pokemon move but neither would leave their trainers. Finally it gave up and jumped back toward the river bed stopping only to glare at the humans.

Kyle had been watching the retreating legend and didn't notice as the shadowy trainers freed their Pokemon and subordinates. The Plasma members had already begun retreating. Kyle ordered Lampent to trap them with a Curse but one of the shadow trainers released an Infernape to knock Kyle's Pokemon back. All of the Plasma members had escaped and the trainer recalled his Infernape and he looked at Kyle closely.

"You will meet the Shadow Triad again Kyle, next time you need to be sure of what your fighting for if you want to win." The trainer said emotionlessly as a burst of flames covered his retreat

Later Kyle sat in the Nacrene Pokemon center still hurting from the battle. He looked at his newly evolved Pokemon and smiled, if anything at least something good had come from this. Lenora had retrieved the museums fossil and Cheren had demanded a rematch before they were out of the forest. Burgh had followed the retreating team Plasma members hoping to catch them in his city. Ivan was resting and agreed that they should wait till tomorrow to go through the forest again.

Meanwhile in their hidden castle the Shadow Triad reported the missions failure to Ghetsis and N. Ghetsis seemed to be considering how they should progress while N asked to hear the story again.

"I see, even Virizion has awakened to the plight of the Pokemon. It seems that boy was able to bond with the egg as you reported," N said curiously. "Why must we confront trainers who seem to share our ideas?"

The Triad member glanced at Ghetsis but retuned his gaze to N before the trainer noticed. Later Ghetsis went over the true version of the events and cursed his subordinates incompetence. They knew the location of the dragon of truth but until they located Zekrom's resting place there was nothing to be done. He decided to leave the rest of the search to David. Since he had taken the boy in he had shown impressive talent and was easy to manipulate following his accident.

The only thing that prevented Ghetsis from fully relying on the boy was his tendency to resort to extreme violence. It was understandable considering how he had nearly died because of his brother. Suddenly a thought occurred to Ghetsis of how he could use the boy's temper. He laughed spitefully, for his idea to work he would need to enforce the Pokemon liberation campaign and cut down on Plasma's unpleasant actions.

If he released David's anger he could not only succeed in distracting all of Unova but use his own servant to change the world's perception of his group. The only problem would be how to justify it to N, the boy could tolerate grunts illicit actions but if his adopted brother starts causing chaos it would be too much. Ghetsis thought of the several trainers N had mentioned meeting, maybe he could use them to occupy the boy while he started his new plan…


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A City's Synergy **

Kyle and Ivan made it through the forest without trouble, Cheren had decided to try and track down Virizion to further test his strength after beating Lenora. On the other side of Pinwheel Forest Kyle was amazed at the size of Skyarrow Bridge.

"You have to admit it's impressive," Kyle said seeing Ivan was just reading his book.

He looked up unmoved, "Where are those cars supposed to be going?" he asked critically.

Kyle glared at him but continued down the path and eventually they made it to Castelia City. The city was enormous, billboards flashing and mobs of people running everywhere, it was unlike anything else in the Pokemon world. Kyle was captivated by the city and even Ivan had put away his book.

They wandered around the city until they heard a battle nearby, they ran to the port and found the source of the sounds. A Dewott was battling a Fraxure, although the Dewott was using the terrain to its advantage it was clearly overpowered. Kyle had to push his way through a crowd to see the trainers and found another one of the Nuvema trainers.

"Bianca?" Kyle asked surprised to see her in such a serious battle.

She looked over when he called and Fraxure took advantage of her distraction. It ripped a lamppost out of the ground and threw it into Bianca's Pokemon immobilizing it.

"Don't let your guard down!" the other trainer yelled strictly.

Kyle looked over and saw the trainer was a little girl even younger than him. She was scolding Bianca and Kyle found the scene funny. The girl saw him laughing and smiled back.

"If you think it's so funny do you want to battle?" she asked innocently.

Bianca was shaking her head but Kyle didn't see the problem and agreed. The girl chose to keep using her Fraxure and Kyle chose his Lampent. Kyle waited for the girl to attack first but she was watching him smugly.

"Lampent, Shadow Ball!" Kyle ordered.

His Pokemon gathered the dark sphere and fired it at the Fraxure. The other Pokemon caught the attack head on but didn't flinch, it reflected the attack back at Lampent without trying and threw Kyle's Pokemon into the nearby ship scorching it and knocking the ghost out without attacking.

The girl laughed at him until the crowd suddenly parted to let someone through, Kyle saw Burgh walk over to the girl and start scolding her for the collateral damage. Kyle was still stunned by how fast he had lost, Ivan saw his shock and looked away casually.

"You did know that she's Iris and is going to take over the eighth gym soon right?" he asked patronizingly.

"I hate you," Kyle muttered.

Kyle went over to Bianca and asked why she was battling someone as powerful as Iris.

"Well yesterday a group of people from Team Plasma ran through the city and stole one of my Pokemon, if it wasn't for Iris and Burgh they would have gotten away. So I asked Iris if she would train me so I could protect my Pokemon, like Black and the others," she said sadly.

Burgh had finished arguing with Iris and walked over to Kyle and the others.

"If you all want to train there is going to be a tournament tomorrow," Burgh explained. "A company from Hoenn is holding it as an opening ceremony, it would be a good chance to get stronger."

Bianca was eager for the chance and Ivan agreed passively, Kyle didn't particularly know if he wanted to battle.

"You need to practice," Burgh said seriously. "You got lucky in Pinwheel forest when your Pokemon evolved , if you want to be able to protect your Pokemon you need more skill."

Eventually Kyle agreed and waited for the tournament the next day. That night he went out alone to think it over. Even as an egg his Lampent had protected him and in the forest it stood up to a Pokemon like Virizion, but what had he done for his Pokemon? Kyle sighed and stood on the pier thinking about it. While he was thinking someone came over and surprised him.

"It has been a while," Kyle turned around and saw the trainer who had shared his trainer card with him. "I don't believe I told you my name last time, I am N."

_N_? Kyle thought, "y-yea thanks again for helping me out in Accumula."

"How has that egg developed? I would ask to see the Pokemon it became" N asked.

Kyle found the request a little odd but released his Lampent. N seemed to look at the Pokemon carefully, Kyle tried to remember if the trainer was this eccentric before.

"I see, you have potential but lack passion." N said curiously, "your Pokemon have faith in you so why is it you don't respond?"

"W-what are you talking about?" Kyle asked disturbed by the trainers odd ramble.

"Your Pokemon tells me that you hesitate to try, something is holding you back." N said accusingly. "Because you're burdened by something your Pokemon are suffering, maybe I was wrong about you."

"What do you know!" Kyle yelled angrily.

N had already began to leave seemingly disappointed. Kyle felt angry but looked at his Lampent questioningly.

"Can I really be hurting you too?" Kyle asked sadly.

_Seven years earlier…_

Kyle and his brother were in Nimbasa City with their mother, they had come to see the amusement park for David's birthday. Kyle and his brother had ridden on the Ferris wheel and their mother had been waiting for them below. Once they had gotten off David was looking for their mother and Kyle saw a Pokemon playing in the water nearby and ran after it. He followed the Pokemon and as it started to swim further away from the land Kyle stood on top of the rail to see it better and fell into the water.

Kyle had never learned to swim and was drowning when his brother jumped in after him. David had grabbed a board to hold onto and grabbed Kyle making him hold the board. Kyle was afraid and still panicking, David was struggling to make sure his brother didn't let go. By now people had noticed them and were trying to get help. David had gotten Kyle to hold on but he was barely able swim but was weighed down having jumped in right after his brother.

The current got stronger pulling them apart. Kyle held on to the board David had give him, David was carried further away. Finally someone managed to reach Kyle and pull him out but his brother had been lost and no sign of him was ever found.

Kyle thought about all this after having given up on it for years looking at his Pokemon. Was that why he couldn't really devote to anything? Even as a child his brother had drowned trying to save him and as an egg his Pokemon had used all its strength to do the same. N was right, he was unable to return the strength his Pokemon showed him, he fell to the ground feeling pathetic. His Lampent sat beside him while he thought of his mistakes.

He didn't want to hold his Pokemon back anymore, not only that he wanted to be able to protect them like they had protected him. He couldn't fix what he had done but he decided to start moving forward. Kyle looked at his Pokemon and wondered if he would be able to succeed.

The next day he met Ivan at the tournament location, Burgh watched the battles start as a judge and Iris watched cheering for Bianca. Chris was surprised to hear that the first part of the tournament was double battling. He teamed up with Ivan and the tournament was set to begin.

Kyle and Ivan's first match was against a pair of clerks that used a Lilligant and a Whimsicott. Kyle used his Lampent and Ivan used his Hoothoot. Lilligant released a flurry of flower petals using Petal Dance and Whimsicott used a Tailwind to increase the speed of the attack. Ivan was prepared to block the attack with a Light Screen but Kyle took control of this battle.

His Lampent unleashed a Flame Burst that torched the incoming attacked without resistance. The attack exploded damaging both grass type Pokemon, Ivan followed up Kyle's attack by ordering his Hoothoot to use Hypnosis. The tiny owl Pokemon released an unusually powerful psychic wave and started radiating energy. Ivan's Pokemon evolved into a Noctowl and added the energy created to it Hypnosis.

Whimsicott was captured by the attack and fell into a dead sleep. Lilligant used another Petal Storm to block its vision from the hypnotic wave. Lampent released a Smog cloud that surrounded the Lilligant and sleeping Whimsicott following it with another Flame Burst that ignited the Smog blowing both grass types back and unconscious.

Kyle and Ivan worked their way through the tournament eventually reaching the end of their bracket. Only Bianca and her partner remained. Before the battle began Burgh walked over to all the trainers giving them a present for coming as far as they had. Kyle received a Moon Stone as his prize. The announcer also revealed a new rule the last two rounds would separate partners, Ivan was battling Bianca and Kyle battled Bianca's partner.

Kyle won his battle with little trouble and Bianca had defeated Ivan without much effort. Finally Kyle and Bianca started their final battle. Bianca chose her Dewott and Kyle released his Lampent. Lampent released several Shadow Balls but Dewott avoided them. Dewott hit Lampent with a Razor Shell throwing it back forcefully. Kyle recalled Lampent before it could take anymore damage and released his Nidorino.

Dewott and Nidorino clashed and they were evenly matched, Bianca's Pokemon was faster and blitzing Nidorino. Kyle watched waiting for a chance to make a counter but his Pokemon was quickly losing ground. Dewott unleashed a Water Pulse and Nidorino was barely able to stand.

Kyle started to surrender but his Pokemon refused, Nidorino growled adamantly and refused to surrender. Kyle remembered how he had felt the night before, if his Pokemon refused to back down Kyle would be just as resolved.

"Nidorino we aren't going to lose, not now!" Kyle said steadfastly.

Nidorino's growled turned into a ferocious roar as the moon stone Kyle had received earlier shattered loudly. Nidorino was glowing blindingly as its roar grew more powerful, by the time the light had faded the ground was shaking under the Pokemon's new power. Kyle stared amazed at his Pokemon's new form, the Nidoking stood powerfully smashing his tail into the ground cracking the concrete.

Dewott hit it with Water Pulse, hurry!" Bianca commanded hesitantly.

"Block it," Kyle said hoping his Pokemon could act on its own.

Nidoking roared again and released a blast of electricity from its mouth. The Thunderbolt blew apart Dewott's attack effortlessly tearing through the street. Once the electric blast hit Dewott it exploded outward. The camera crew recording the tournament for later jumped away just as the excess electric charge blasted the camera and destroying several streetlights.

Dewott was completely unconscious and the crowd had panicked and ran off after the uncontrolled attack. Nidoking continued slamming its tail onto the shattered streets waiting for Bianca to change Pokemon. She hesitated but released a Musharna, Nidoking charged at the floating Pokemon furiously.

"Stop it with Psychic!" Bianca yelled desperately.

The invisible forced slammed into Nidoking pushing the Pokemon back forcefully. Nidoking roared angrily dispersing the psychic force through sheer strength. Without waiting for Kyle's order Nidoking charged again slamming its tail into the Musharna throwing it into the new office the tournament was celebrating smashing part of the wall. The Pokemon continued its rampage firing elemental blasts at the building randomly.

Suddenly blades of grass broke through the street trying to restrain the rampaging Nidoking. Iris's Fraxure crashed into Nidoking as well desperately holding the Pokemon down.

"What are you waiting for?" Burgh yelled. "Recall your Pokemon!"

Kyle returned Nidoking to its Pokeball where it continued to rampage for several moments until finally becoming silent.

Meanwhile in Team Plasma's hidden castle David reported to Ghetsis that he was ready to deploy to Castelia.

"About that…" Ghetsis said annoyed.

He explained the city was already in shambles from a rampaging Pokemon.

"What does that mean for us?" David asked angrily.

"Same result different trainer," Ghetsis said smirking smugly. "It all empowers the message of Pokemon liberation that a child lost control so easily. Even now as the videos spread Team Plasma can further my cause."

"What about me?" David asked impatiently.

"I have a special mission for you," Ghetsis laughed hysterically. "How would you like to visit the amusement park where I met you and have some fun?"

David clenched his teeth furiously but couldn't wait to visit the place that still haunted his dreams. The first thing he would do is burn that Ferris Wheel to the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Fallout**

The Castelia City street was in ruins, several places shattered by Kyle's newly evolved Nidoking's powerful tail. The building the tournament represented was shattered, burning in several places and frozen in others. What remained of the spectators were people sitting back recording the scene with their Pokegears.

Iris and Burgh were trying to contain the damage while Bianca was franticly trying to revive her now sleeping Musharna. Kyle watched frozen by the chaos of what happened.

"You can't win can you?" Ivan complained holding the charred remains of a book. "You battle passively and lose and now you managed to remind everyone why it's a bad idea to trust children with monsters."

"I hate you…" Kyle responded hollowly.

The sponsor of the tournament ran over yelling at Kyle frenziedly. Kyle listened numbly as the man became increasing unintelligible. Finally he stopped shouting and was gasping staring at Kyle waiting for an answer.

"Sorry?" Kyle answered weakly.

"You realize this is entirely your fault," Ivan stated bluntly at the harried man. "You gave a kid with a Nidorino he received in trade a Moon Stone and held a tournament outside you office. In fact now Kyle is unable to use one of his Pokemon, if anything you owe him."

Kyle looked at Ivan gratefully as the sponsor mumbled to himself desperately.

"Fine, we can just let the whole thing go right?" the man stuttered quickly. "Here this was the first prize, it's a Pokemon you can't catch in Unova. So you wont tell anybody that this was _partially _our fault right?"

Kyle took the Pokeball happily not to be held responsible, he was about to reassure the man there was no chance he would speak of this when Ivan interrupted.

"Not yet," Ivan said bluntly. The man looked at the boy on the verge of tears. "You owe me a new book."

The man ran off happy to be done with the two crazy children and Kyle hit Ivan's shoulder glaring at him.

"You only defended me to get a new book didn't you?" Kyle accused annoyed.

"I have no idea what your taking about" Ivan answered barely hiding a smirk.

"And when were you anywhere near an attack that could have hit your book?" Kyle asked sarcastically.

Later Kyle was standing by the fountain in the central area of the city listening as Burgh politely attempted to tell Kyle to leave-immediately. Kyle sat sadly in one of the rest houses on route four drinking a lemonade waiting for Ivan to come back with the supplies from Castelia. He finished his drink and looked at his three Pokeballs, he picked out the new foreign original ball and released his newest Pokemon.

A Weepinbell appeared jumping around the room curiously. Kyle smiled at his latest teammate but quickly sighed depressed. Now that he wasn't exactly welcome in Castelia the next city was unavoidable, for the first time in seven years he would have to go to Nimbasa city. Earlier Bianca had left for the Relic Castle saying she was going to continue training in the desert.

Finally Ivan returned with the supplies and something extra. Following the boy and carrying everything as he read his new book Iris entered the rest house to get out of the sandstorm.

"What are you doing here?" Kyle asked cautiously.

"I'm here to make sure you don't destroy anything else," Iris answered smugly.

"She wants to go to the amusement park and doesn't have any money or a flying type Pokemon," Ivan said bluntly as Iris hit him angrily.

"The only reason I'm out of money is because his Lampent's Shadow Ball damaged that boat!" Iris said superiorly.

"You reflected the attack, and you're supposed to be a Gym Leader in training right?" Ivan asked sarcastically.

"Do you want to be dragon food?" Iris said angrily.

She continued yelling at Ivan while he ignored her and read his book. Kyle sighed and left the building deciding it would be better to go hungry. The eclectic group wandered through the route. Ivan and Iris continued arguing endlessly and finally Kyle turned around angrily.

"Both of you need to shut up! Even the Pokemon are avoiding us!" Kyle yelled loudly.

Iris and Kyle were yelling at each other ridiculously as Ivan looked around confused.

"Wait where are the Pokemon?" Ivan asked curiously.

Suddenly the ground cave in beneath them and they tumbled down. Kyle picked himself up knocking down some of one of the walls covering himself with sand.

"This is a cliché!" Iris yelled furiously trying to dig herself out of a sand pocket while Kyle and Ivan ignored her.

Above the hole a dozen Dwebble screeched at them mockingly as a large Crustle lumbered over the pit.

"Well aren't you going to do something?" Iris complained still buried.

"The only Pokemon I have that can fight in the desert is Nidoking and we're better off here." Kyle said tiredly.

"I don't see the problem," Ivan stated ignoring the insects entirely.

Iris finally dug herself out of the sand and held a couple Pokeballs angrily releasing her dragon Pokemon. Kyle and Ivan watched passively as Iris chased down the bug Pokemon blindly.

"I vote we ditch her," Ivan said calmly releasing his Swoobat.

Kyle hesitated for a moment before he saw a huge pillar of sand explode in the horizon. Ivan reminded him that the girl was as good as a Gym Leader and would be fine. The Swoobat pulled the trainers out and they continued down the path ignoring the chaos happening over the sand dunes.

Finally they reached the connecting building and Kyle froze before entering. Ivan glanced at him curiously as Iris appeared running towards them furiously. She was yelling at Ivan angrily as Kyle ignored them both trying to shake off the memories of the past. Finally even Iris noticed Kyle's odd behavior and calmed down, they both asked him if something was wrong but he just shook and entered the building.

Kyle looked around Nimbasa depressed although he remembered as a child he could barely control himself. He saw the Ferris Wheel where he had last seen his brother and flinched.

"Lets go to the amusement park!" Iris said cheerfully.

Ivan looked at Kyle as the boy flinched at the words and sighed.

"Fine I'll take you," he complained starting another senseless argument.

Kyle thanked him mentally and wandered off towards the heart of the city. At least Kyle and Ivan would reach the transfer center soon and complete Professor Juniper's request. Kyle wondered what he would do after that, he considered Gym battles or collecting more Pokemon but all of it seemed so unreal even though his goal was only a couple days away.

He was lost in thought and didn't notice as someone noticed him and approached his slowly.

"Kyle?" somebody asked hesitantly.

He turned around and saw White leaving the sports arena and walk over to him.

"You're a trainer now?" she asked questioningly.

He explained everything he had done since leaving Nuvema town.

"I see, so now you're here," she said slowly. "Are you ok? I remember your brother-"

"So you two know each other," a voice called out from the entrance to route five.

"Kyle and White saw the trainer N approach them confidently.

"You," White said coldly.

Kyle looked at her for an explanation having seen no reason for her hostility.

"You don't know?" White said still cold. "This guy is supposed to be king of Team Plasma."

Kyle looked at the mysterious trainer confused but had no reason to doubt White. N looked at her uncomfortable with her cold behavior and looked back at Kyle.

"I see you have grown quite a lot for a couple days," N said genuinely happy. "It seems I wasn't mistaken you children appear to have the qualities required to be true trainers."

"Why are you here?" White asked directly.

"I have come to see if you two would join my cause," N said seriously. "I cannot allow _humans _pathetic incompetence to restrain Pokemon any longer. You must understand," N addressed Kyle. "You have seen what arrogance humans are capable of."

Kyle remembered the loser he had met the day he first saw N, the guy had literally tried to mug him of an egg. But he also remembered many more examples of chaos with Team Plasma being responsible.

"Your group seems to be the one inflicting the most damage," Kyle responded bitterly.

"Yes even my people are susceptible to human weakness," N said sadly. "But in the end we will justify everything! If you can truly claim all humans deserve Pokemon then do so!"

Kyle watched N carefully trying to decide how dangerous he could be. The three trainers continued their silent assessments until an explosion ripped through the entire city. Kyle, White, and N looked east and could only watch as the Ferris Wheel slowly fell to the ground. The crash reverberated through the city and Kyle thought of Ivan and Iris horrified. He ran towards the amusement park when one of the Shadow Triad appeared blocking his way.

"What is happening?" N asked.

"It appears several criminals are attacking the city using Pokemon to destroy whatever they see fit," the trainer said emotionlessly.

"You see now?" N said coldly. "all of this is the result of humans."

"I don't care!" Kyle shouted angrily "My friends are in trouble and now _you're _the one in the way!"

White stepped between the two and released a Carracosta facing N. The other members of the Shadow Triad appeared silently surrounding White and Kyle. Kyle released Lampent and looked at N angrily.

"You know this has just turned into an incredibly annoying day. If you want a fight fine, I owe you for Castelia but I wont lose." Kyle said seriously.

"You two go investigate that explosion," N ordered two of the Triad.

N released a Klinklang and the remaining Traid member released the Ambipom Kyle had seen at Pinwheel Forest. Meanwhile Ivan was regaining consciousness and saw Iris trapped under part of the Ferris Wheel while all of her dragon struggled to stop the destroyed ride from crushing her. He got up slowly looking around painfully when he saw what had caused the explosion.

In the sky above the amusement park a trainer rode a Charizard still glaring at the twisted remains of the ride. Ivan's vision was still distorted from what was probably a concussion but looking at the trainer that had attacked the city he knew he recognized him. Ivan fell down painfully again as the book he had been carrying throughout his journey burned behind him with the pictures of Kyle and his brother that he had used to search for him before.


End file.
